These are easy things to learn that set a foundation for you to learn other things later on also, and leads to not having to pay people for things that you can do. Knowing how to change oil in a motor is something everyone should know.

I know a lot of terms are being thrown at you, which may make it seem complicated, but its not. Generator maintenance is not letting it gum up, and keeping clean oil in it. These aren't hard to do, I am sure there are a million videos online that can show you visually how to do it. You should take a look at some, and you will see just how easy it is, and you'll be happy you didn't pay someone to do it.

Also, having just gone through all this Hurricane Sandy crap, I can't stress the importance of having some extra gallons of gas on hand. The way that situation was handled here was embarrassing. Do not overlook this fact. Nothing would be more irritating than having a generator to power things but no gas to power the generator.

should know and do know are not the same, hell ive ran into people that dont know how to change a car tire just like op said mower wont last more than a couple years, i am one of those people that fixes an flips them as there quite simple. as unless they are super abused its going to be bad oil and a rebuid on the carb 80-90% of the time.

best think i can tell op is that change the oil/airfilter*/sparkplug* every year or more depending on your usage *will vary depending on usage etc. all of this i would expect any able person to do. paying someone to do this is ok but u should learn how to do it just incase of an emergency, an your gettin this item because of one so imo u should learn how it works and why. i would put my faith in that op could do this!! if not your going to spend more $ as shops norm go 60-75 for a simple tune up airfilter,oil,sparkplug for 10min of work tops, so even if it takes u 3x taht u just paid urself $60 an hr and most people dont make that.

Wendy when you do go to buy your generator make a list of some the points listed so far. Like how to drain & refill with oil and how to run the carburetor dry.

Then have them show you at Home Depot or where every you end up buying your generator.

Off topic:
I'm on my 4the lawn mower in 30years. I bought one of the new Electric Mowers with rechargeable battery. Simple plug it in overnight. I have a double lot. I get two full cutting of the whole property per charge and I do part of the vacant lot behind my house that is near my Dog kennel run. (20x100'.)

What I like the best is how quiet the motor is, it sounds like a ceiling fan on high. I can cut the grass at 6am in the summer and not wake up the neighborhood. It's much lighter than the gas mower was too.

If outages are a fact of life for you, get a natural gas or propane unit.
Preferably wired to the correct auto disconnect switch. After living on a farm, my folks moved to a paved road. After the nth three day outage they had one installed. Now the neighbors come to visit them when the powers out. That's mixed.

Here's what I was looking at when I get some cash to buy a generator. Looks like a good idea, at least to me it does. This way you don't have to worry about storing gasoline and/or refilling it. I can't think of any time I've had an interruption in my natural gas service.

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